NEW RACE QUIETLY BATTLES TRADITION, CHARISMA OF INDY

There is no Gasoline Alley at Michigan International Speedway. A replica of a gas station just behind the pits will have to suffice.

Unlike the towering, double-decked grandstands that encircle the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, this two-mile oval is bordered by a cheap-looking metal grandstand.

The crowds that line 16th Street in Indianapolis throughout the month of May, looking to sell tickets at vastly inflated prices, are nowhere to be found in the tranquil, rolling hills of lower Michigan. Instead, there's just a few unfortunate possums who happened to wander into the roadway at the wrong time.

"The real cars . . . the real stars . . . the real race," say the banners which have been hung all around the Michigan track.

But make no mistake about it: They can take the best racers out of Indianapolis, but they can't take that Brickyard mystique with them.

"There's just something about Indy," said Richard Hamilton of Eau Claire, Wis., his motor home parked in relative solitude atop a hill overlooking the speedway where Sunday's inaugural U.S. 500 will be held. "There's no comparison as far as tradition. This is a nicer track. We'll probably see a better race. But it's not Indy."

Indy is more than a race. It's grime and class and bustle and solitude all wrapped into one.

And for those that make the 33-car field, there's that long, lonely walk down Gasoline Alley, their throats yearning for a taste of milk at the end of the day.

Michigan is more peaceful, or at least it was Thursday. Only three days before the race, just a few hundred fans were on the grounds. Every so often, someone would wander up to the office behind Turn 2 to buy a ticket.

Still, the track announced that all 90,000 grandstand tickets had been sold and they expect a crowd Sunday of more than 100,000.

Chip Ganassi was talking about the old days of auto racing as he unveiled the Vanderbilt Cup Thursday. Everyone felt that was somehow ironic, since everything else about this weekend is new.

"In the old days, when I raced, you hung around for the first 400 miles, then raced the last 100 miles," Ganassi said. "Now, it's a sprint race from start to finish. If you aren't prepared to race like that, you might as well go stand in the refreshment line."

The Vanderbilt Cup was the name of the first international road race, in 1904 on Long Island. The cup Ganassi uncovered at a media luncheon was a replica of the original, both made by Tiffany.